1 March 2017

Immigration Policy Under Trump

For the week of March 5, 2017

On February 9, The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District upheld a decision to suspend President Trump’s executive order banning travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Despite the court ruling, Trump’s immigration policies are already having an effect on noncitizens in the US and more legal challenges to these policies are very likely in the coming years. Professor Stephen Meili discusses the legal issues of Trump’s executive order, rights of noncitizens in the US and a recent grant from the Robina Foundation that will help the U of M Law School continue work on immigration and human rights law.

Guest: Stephen Meili, Clinical Professor in Law at the University of Minnesota and director the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic

Part 1 The President and congress have broad authority over immigration due to foreign policy and national security matters. But Trump’s executive order was overly broad. “While courts are willing to give deference to those political branches, the President and the congress, it’s not without limits,” says Meili. “That’s what we’re seeing here, in a struggle between the branches, it’s given all of us an illustration of what the separation of powers means.”

Part 2 How will Trump’s policies affect immigrant communities in the US and in Minnesota? In the long-run, Meili says the US could no longer be seen as a “beacon of hope” or a viable option in applying for asylum. But some immediate effects are already happening: Trump’s policies and increased enforcement have created a climate of fear. “Some of those fears may be exaggerated, but, that’s the kind of situation that can be created when you have pronouncements like the executive order.”